E46 bushes

[JPJ89]

I’m in the middle of renewing my e46 sport saloons suspension, and would like to hear opinions from anyone who has had the same work done. I’m looking to keep the ride quality/comfort as close to stock as possible, while also keeping one eye on cost as it is an older car now. For this reason I renewed all the dampers with new OE Sachs units, but chose Eibach prokit springs over m-sport as there was a price difference of £300 between the two options. Now I am doing bushes upfront (control arm bushes and anti roll bar ‘D’ bushes) and wondering what people recommend as the best compromise. It seems that the lemforder control arm bushes are the OE spec but don’t last too long, whereas Meyle HD cost roughly the same (£50 or so) and seem to last much longer, but do they increase harshness? I see there is a Powerflex option as well, but defo don’t want to go that route as I know how much polybushes increase harshness and it’s not what I’m looking for.

[helix402]

Use genuine BMW. Meyle bushes don’t last long. Lemforder’s quality has slipped recently.

[JPJ89]

I thought lemforder were the ‘genuine’ ones, or maybe I have read that wrong somewhere. I will go with genuine BMW for the front arb bushes as they are not overly expensive at £20 each, but they seemed quite pricey at around £90 I think it was for the control arm bushes? Don’t suppose you know if the genuine BMW control arm bushes come pre-pressed in the bracket that mounts to the car body?

[helix402]

Lemforder do supply bushes for BMW however I have seen Lemforder branded (not gen BMW) control arm bushes fail prematurely recently.

Yes gen BMW bushes cone pressed into the housing.

[Sardonicus]

The front control arm genuine BMW P brackets/lolly-pops come with the bushes fitted already are reasonably priced about £75 a pair IIRC and are easy to change easier going on than removing the old one's i'll grant you dont skimp on these parts they are relatively short lived as is

[daniel-5zjw7]

as said above buying them complete with brackets is probably easiest. You may get a few quid selling your old ones to someone looking to press in aftermarket bushes.

Quick note on powerflex, I have the purple bushes on my car and honestly haven't noticed any increased NVH. they offer some advantages not least they'll last a LOT longer. But they are getting on for £100 so unless your planning to keep the car for a long time/doing plenty of miles gen ones may be the answer.

Likewise I have powerflex ARB bushes, same applies again, your not going to notice any adverse affects and they'll last and last.. but are more money